Kids’ Christmas prayers

One of the poster contest entries. By Connor Gordon of St. John the Baptist School, Savage.

I know Christmas is around the corner when I walk into our administrative manager’s office this time of year and have trouble seeing her behind the tall stacks of large envelopes.

Mary Gibbs is the official collector of entries for The Catholic Spirit’s annual Christmas poster contest. This year, some 1,700 youth — kindergartners through 12th-graders — sent us drawings. They were required to finish the phrase, “This Christmas I’ll be praying for…” and then illustrate the finished sentence with a picture.

I recently set aside an evening to go through the entries and select a handful from each category so that the judging panel, made up of members of the newspaper staff, had a manageable number to look at and pick winners.

Some kids have incredible artistic talent. Other entries caught my attention because of the sentiments expressed. Sure, some youth indicated they were praying for video games and other presents for themselves, but the vast majority of young artists were contemplating the real meaning of Christmas when they drew their posters.

Many were praying for world peace, family members, and the poor and homeless. Some had other things on their minds. Here’s a sampling of what some artists said they would be praying for:

“… for every person living in Haiti to have a home.”

“… for families whose loved ones will be meeting Jesus.”

“… for single parents.”

“… for people that lost their jobs.”

“… for my Korean sister Lizzy so there is no war between North and South Korea.”

“… for the seminarians.”

“… for priests. Because they pray for us.”

“… for the archdiocese.”

“… for all the soldiers that are away from their families.”

“ … for all immigrants.”

“… for no judgments.”

“… for parents who are having trouble with marriage.”

“… for breast cancer patients.”

“… for my grandfather to stop smoking for good.”

“… for all the polar bears that are losing their homes.”

“… for the people who don’t know Jesus, that His love will fill their hearts.”

One third-grader said she was praying for The Catholic Spirit. We need those prayers as we prepare to celebrate our 100th anniversary in January and embark on another century of service to Catholics of the archdiocese.

You’ll be reading more about the centennial in upcoming issues. And watch our website this week as well as this week’s print edition to find out who the winners are in this year’s poster contest!